PSEi back above 6,000

The local stock barometer climbed back to the 6,000-mark Friday as investors cheered an overnight Wall Street rally ahead of the release of a crucial US jobs report.

Gaining for the third straight session, the main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) added 96.55 points or 1.63 percent to close at 6,011.14. For the week, it lost 30.05 points or 0.05 percent amid an emerging market selldown.

All counters surged more than 1 percent yesterday. Value turnover amounted to P5.997 billion. There were 110 advancers that beat 35 decliners while 43 stocks were unchanged.

The day’s rally was led by Megaworld (+4.47 percent) while BPI and URC also gained more than 2 percent. Investors also picked up shares of PLDT, SM Investments Corp., SM Prime, Metrobank, Ayala Land, Metro Pacific Invesments Corp., ICTSI, DMCI, GT Capital and Semirara, which all rose more than 1 percent. Alliance Global Inc., Ayala Corp., BDO, LT Group and Aboitiz Power also contributed to the PSEi’s gains. Robinsons Retail (+2.43 percent) and Cosco (+0.67 percent) also gained in heavy volume.

Across the region, trading was mostly upbeat on optimism over an upcoming US payroll report for January. This was following a reported drop in applications for US unemployment insurance. Due to this favorable jobs gauge, the Dow Jones industrial index rallied by 188.3 points to 15,628.53 overnight, in turn lifting regional markets Friday. Doris C. Dumlao